This site went live in October 2010 to flesh out technology and legality of CYBER PRIVATEERING as I wrote DADDY'S LITTLE FELONS. The novel pays homage to my old friend Judge Pat Brian, who died of pancreatic cancer on June 28, 2010.To get updates as new articles are posted, enter your email below:

To get notices of new blogs via email, click here:

Monday, December 6, 2010

The Perfect Virus principle #12: Implicit Sophistication

As indicated in my post of Monday, 11/22/2010, I am extrapolating Jeff Walker's Principles for the Perfect Application into a discussion of The Perfect Virus. Since Jeff's monograph on the subject did not anticipate stealth or suicide mechanisms, any errors or lapses into stupidity are solely my additions and should not reflect poorly on what I consider to be the biggest single contribution to software application design since the invention of computers. And Jeff, thanks for giving me permission to do surgery on your baby.

THE PRINCIPLE OF IMPLICIT SOPHISTICATION: The Perfect Virus is a prime example of Implicit Sophistication in its compliance to the other 21 principles enumerated herein. Specifically, zero IT support, Self Awareness (principle #3), and absolute Stealth (principle #14, to be covered on Wednesday) are the definition of sophistication.

Admittedly, the concept of "sophistication" is dependent upon external judgment. One does not boast himself to be sophisticated, as that label is generally granted by an external source. I will therefore enumerate the benefits of Implicit Sophistication as embodied by current understanding of the Stuxnet virus that appears to be plaguing Iranian nuclear centrifuges:

Productivity: The Stuxnet virus spread incredibly fast, even to computers with no Internet connection. Wednesday's post will go into more detail when we talk about Stealth.

Intelligence: The Stuxnet virus appears to have a rudimentary inference engine (a la A.I. terminology of the 1980s), where it can keep a low profile until it finds itself on a computer connected to specific nuclear centrifuge hardware.

Process Awareness: The Stuxnet virus appears to "grok" the purpose and process of the infected computer.

Delivery efficiency: The Stuxnet virus is a "homing data bomb" that uses a Zero Day delivery mechanism, rather than a signature exploit that can be recognized by the Symantecs and McAfees of the world (we'll talk more about this in Stealth on Wednesday).

Stratification: (see tomorrow's discussion).

Stealth: (see Wednesday's discussion).

Prosumption (see last Saturday's post): Stuxnet appears to have at least one feature of Prosumption, in that it reported its progress back to a control system that sensed when it was being probed and shut itself down.

Performance (principle #4): Stuxnet appears to propagate with incredible speed. In fact, it quickly propagated throughout the lab being used to decompile and figure it out.

Feral Fertility (principle #2): Stuxnet appears to have the ability to kill itself to avoid detection or capture.

While Stuxnet fails on several other levels to achieve Perfect Virus status, all the talking heads seem to be quoting each other's "knowledgeable sources" about (a) its Sophistication and (b) that it "just has to be the product of multiple governments and intelligence services cooperating, since no single source could have done such a job." I disagree with part (b) and will make a prediction. Of course, since I write fiction, I don't have a lot to lose if I'm wrong. I can always say, "Oops!" without the world ending. My prediction?

I BELIEVE THE STUXNET VIRUS was created by a lone male individual who is at least 60 years old and is working for British Intelligence, supported by U.S., German and Israeli intelligence. One of the features of any A.I. inference engine is the ability to ask it "why" it made such an inference. So in keeping with that protocol, I'll answer the "why" question. Of course, you'll see just how fuzzy my logic truly is. First, the location and frequency of countries following this blog leads me to those players: the USA, the UK, Israel and Germany, in that order. Of course, hackers from other countries could be using compromised servers in my suspect countries to make their queries, but I'm placing my bet on these four main players. My second reason for asserting that a single individual wrote Stuxnet is my long experience in the software business. Nothing truly genius ever came out of a committee or even a team. Nothing. And by all accounts, Stuxnet is not just good. It's genius. The kind of genius, by the way, that had to evolve with the industry since the beginning of the minicomputer revolution. Which would make my virus genius at least 60 years old. Finally, my assertion of male gender. Sorry ladies, but I have yet to see, meet or hear about a decent female hacker. And certainly not a world-class hacker. If I'm wrong, let me know and I'll make a public and abject apology. As my mother never said (but should have), I'm frequently wrong but never in doubt.

Remember your assignment before you read the Wednesday post on Stealth. Rent or buy and then watch the DVD movie Zombieland.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Implementation suggestions for THE MORGAN DOCTRINE are most welcome. What are the "Got'chas!"? What questions would some future Cyber Privateering Czar have to answer about this in a Senate confirmation hearing?

Search This Blog

Daddy's Little Felons, an ebook with cyberwar hyperlinks for only $2.99 from Amazon

Mitch Rapp and Jack Reacher, meet Morgan Rapier! He starts, wages, and wins a world-wide cyberwar. He also solves several murders, becomes the #1 U.S. Navy SEAL recruiter, and gets his Islamic school chum into a whole lot of trouble. All in one week! Dedicated to my late friend, district court judge Pat Brian.

DESTROYING ANGEL, an ebook with hyperlinks for only $2.99 at Amazon

Meet the real…Destroying Angel.

Background: Welcome black hats, white hats and cyber swashbucklers

The Revolutionary War was fought, financed, and pretty well WON by bonded privateers, legalized pirates who were given Letters of Marque and Reprisal by the Continental Congress and authorized to attack, capture and monetize British ships. The purpose of this site is to explore the possibility of a modern-day doctrine much like the Monroe Doctrine, by means of which the U.S. government could legally and, more importantly, effectively stop international hackers. Current cybercrime law is not only ineffective, but downright stupid. My Linux servers are attacked hundreds of times a day (mostly from China and former USSR domains), yet if I retaliate against those servers with some creative technology at my disposal (I know some VERY smart guys), then I am in violation of federal law and subject to some onerous penalties. We need more than a new law. We need a new international doctrine. I call it The Morgan Doctrine, named after Morgan Rapier, a fictional character I've created (hey, this is my way of establishing ownership of the concept, should it ever see the light of day).

Why a new international doctrine? Simply, nothing else will work. Introduced on December 2, 1823, the Monroe Doctrine told the world to keep their hands off the Americas. Combine this with current legal thinking on "hot pursuit" of fugitives. In 1917 the US Army went into Mexico after Pancho Villa. More recently, in 1960 Israeli Mossad agents abducted Adolf Eichmann from Argentina. Granted, much of the world regards the Eichmann adventure as a violation of international law. I don't share that opinion and therefore use it as the third leg of my Monroe-Pancho-Aldof platform for The Morgan Doctrine.

If someone comes into your home and attacks or attempts to rob you, you may shoot them dead. You may do so as long as they expire on your property. But what about cyber criminals? They attack you in your home from their homes. Retaliate in kind, and you go to jail. The Morgan Doctrine states simply that if you attack my computers (or my banking assets held in US-based computers), then under a certain set of well-defined conditions, a licensed and bonded "cyber privateer" may attack you in your home country and split the proceeds with the U.S. government. For the sake of argument, let's call it a 50-50 split (heh heh).

Right now, American law enforcement is completely unequipped to deal with the sheer number international cyber hackers. Sure, I could report each of the thousand daily attacks to the FBI, as could the millions of other attackees in the USA. But the volume of such reports would make any meaningful resolution laughable. Not to mention that the FBI has no jurisdiction outside the USA. Yet to make such "enforcement" profitable to recognized (ie, "bonded" "deputized") privateers, as Heath Ledger's Joker said in his last role, "Now you're talking!" You raid our bank accounts, we raid yours. You make money from off-shore child pornography, we're going to loot your bank accounts and, with some REALLY creative black hat operations, you will be taken off the grid worldwide to the extent that you'll not even complete a cell phone conversation for the remainder of your miserable depraved life. Okay, that last part probably won't fly, but you get my drift.

The purpose of this site is to explore the mechanics, legalities and practicality of The Morgan Doctrine.

And I will be the sole arbiter of whether or not your comments get posted. As Mel Brooks wrote, "It's good to be king."